Succumbing to some of the tropes associated with sequels, Train to Busan 2: Peninsula suffers from moments of empty bombast and an incessant need to go bigger which becomes detrimental to the film's storytelling and the sturdy, steadfast acceleration which made its predecessor so gripping. Taking place several years after the events of the first film, Peninsula exists in a time where the entire Korean Peninsula has been cut-off from the rest of the world - abandoned and secluded in the wake of the first film's events. The film's narrative is centered around Korean migrants who out of desperation agree to journey back to Korea in search of a rumored fortune abandoned in there, and even in this inciting incident of the story, the film's subtext elucidates the exploitation of migrants intrinsic to any strict immigration system - legality is meaningless in the fast of desperation, I for one, love to see it. The film's best moments are not in its action sequences which feature too much CGI artifice, but in the film's quieter character moments that explore the underlying pain and empathy such catastrophe inflicts on the human condition. Peninsula in its best moments has more in common with the original Mad Max and its sequels in this regard, exhibiting the primal behavior humanity is capable of when faced with absolute desperation, resting at the fulcrum of what separates man from beast. Peninsula still works far more than it doesn't, delivering solid thrills and bombast which should fulfill expectations and yet its strength lies not in its desire to mimic Hollywood modes of bombast, blockbuster filmmaking but in its quieter moments in which its more human elements are allowed to shine
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AuthorLove of all things cinema brought me here. Archives
June 2023
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